The sky had not changed.
The fracture still hung above the eastern horizon, pale and unmoving, as though time itself had forgotten to close it. Clouds skirted its edges but never crossed its center. Daylight passed through it strangely, bending without warmth.
By dawn, the mountain paths below the Guardian Sect were filled.
Representatives arrived in silence.
Sect masters. Vice masters. Clan heads. Elders whose names still carried weight despite fading cultivation. They came without banners, without ceremony, escorted only by a few trusted disciples who were ordered to stop far below the ridge.
This was not a march.
It was a decision.
Master Gu stood at the forefront, hands clasped behind his back. Beside him stood Vice Sect Master Shen, expression firm, eyes never leaving the sky. Elder Han and two others followed half a step behind.
No one spoke.
Words had already been spent.
They approached the open terrace where the sky fractured above them, the air growing unnaturally still with each step forward. As they crossed the final stone marker, something subtle shifted.
Not pressure.
Recognition.
The portal responded.
Light within the fracture deepened, its surface rippling like water disturbed by a breath.
Then—
Someone was there.
Qingshi emerged without descent or ascent, appearing as though he had always occupied that space. His pale robes stirred faintly despite the absence of wind. He stood upon empty air, feet aligned as if resting on unseen ground.
The gathered cultivators halted instinctively.
Even now, the sight unsettled them.
Master Gu stepped forward.
"We have reached a decision," he said.
Qingshi inclined his head slightly. "Please speak."
Master Gu did not look away from him.
"The Guardian Sect," he said evenly, "along with the remaining sects and cultivation families of this world, accepts the proposal of integration."
A breath passed through the gathered group—not relief, not fear, but finality.
Qingshi listened without reaction.
"You understand," he said calmly, "that integration is irreversible."
"Yes," Master Gu replied. "Our world has already chosen its path by declining."
Qingshi nodded once.
"I will report this decision to the Lord," he said.
A pause followed.
Then an elder from a smaller sect spoke, unable to restrain himself. "What must we do?"
Others turned toward him.
"Yes," another added. "Do we prepare supplies? Relocate disciples? Protect our mortal cities?"
The questions came quickly now, tension finally breaking free.
Qingshi waited until silence returned.
"There is no need," he said.
The words cut through the uncertainty.
"Our world is… moving?" Vice Sect Master Shen asked carefully.
Qingshi met his gaze. "Your fragment will merge," he said. "Not migrate."
Murmurs rose.
"You will not cross over," Qingshi continued. "Your land, your people, your histories—these will be integrated into the Heaven of Resting Peaks."
A few cultivators stiffened.
"And resistance?" Elder Han asked. "From the world itself?"
"There will be none," Qingshi replied. "Your fragment is already weakened. Integration will stabilize it."
"What of authority?" someone asked quietly.
Qingshi's expression did not change. "Authority belongs to the Lord."
That answer ended further questions.
There was nothing more to argue.
Master Gu bowed.
Not deeply.
But sincerely.
"We await the Lord's will."
Qingshi inclined his head in return.
"I will convey your decision," he said.
He turned toward the fracture.
Before stepping through, he paused.
"When integration begins," Qingshi said, "remain calm. Do not interfere with the process. The Heaven does not require assistance."
With that, he stepped forward.
The sky folded.
The fracture rippled once—then steadied again, unchanged in size, unchanged in presence.
Qingshi was gone.
Silence lingered on the terrace.
The cultivators stood there for a long moment, gazes fixed on the sky, each of them aware that they had just agreed to something no record in their world could properly describe.
Behind them, far below, mortals went about their lives.
Unaware that their world had just been promised to heaven.
And beyond the sky—
In the Heaven of Resting Peaks—
The Lord would soon be informed.
End of Chapter 19